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Monday, 31 July 2017

It's just your age, live with it - NO I WON'T!

I spent
Saturday in hospital having a bit of an operation; a biopsy and
hysteroscopy.

Thank you

I haven’t
publicised my problems, or really shared them with anyone except my immediate
family and close friends. However, after
putting on facebook that I had been in hospital I received an overwhelming
amount of messages and replies. So many
that I was astounded by the thoughtfulness and caring from others. ♥ What I also noticed was that a lot of my
fellow ladies were also suffering, sharing with me that they too had
experienced issues. So, I thought I
might share my journey in the hope that it may help at least one person to know
that they aren’t alone.

It all started...

I have been
lucky enough to sail through my periods in general with little or no problems
at all. Until about eighteen months ago when
everything went pear shaped.

I started to
get seriously heavy periods that lasted two or three weeks at a time. The kind of period that makes you want to
stay indoors and not move for fear of leaking everywhere (apologies for the
visualisation). If my periods weren’t
seriously heavy they still lasted a couple of weeks at a time and were
incredibly painful. I would get one
sometimes two weeks if I was lucky free, then the whole cycle would start
again.

And the
hormones…oh my…the hormones. It has been
a Russian roulette waking up to see what kind of human being I am each
day. I have not felt like myself for
months in fact on most days I feel completely disconnected from everything, a
complete empty shell. It has not been
pleasant.

And then...

What did I
do? I put up with it. Thinking that it was just one of those things
that as a woman I had to grin and bear.
It is just my age, right? I am in
the peri-menopause and that’s that, I just need to put up with it.

Well…as time
went on I became more and more exhausted – emotionally, physically and
mentally. It was really starting to
affect my life. I must note here how
patient and understanding my lovely hubby has been throughout it all!

Home options

My first
port of call was to try herbal remedies and I did, I tried various
combinations, all of which were expensive (around £25 a bottle on average) and
they all seemed to have a little bit of effect for a short while, then
fizzled out.

I also
looked into various eco-friendly options; the menstrual cup was researched but
quickly dismissed. I am sure it works
for some but the thought of dealing with emptying it several times a day for
weeks on end just sounded icky.
Washable cloth pads were also looked at, in fact I purchased a
couple. What arrived where HUGE pieces
of very pretty fabric but basically nappies (diapers). Very
cumbersome and again the thought of dealing with them daily for weeks on end
was very unappealing. Buckets of them
soaking and having to wash them all was not my idea of fun. So, I apologise now to the planet – I used
disposable sanitary towels and yes there were lots of them. I do as much as I can for Mother Earth but
when you are a working mother, wife, running a house, working three jobs and
looking after school age children there is a limit.

Seeking help

Eventually I
popped to see my local GP in the hope that they could maybe give me some
guidance at least. I wish I had visited
sooner.

After a very
brief discussion she referred me directly to the hospital to see a consultant. I must admit I was so relieved I cried.

A few weeks
later I saw a very pleasant consultant who suggested a hysteroscopy and biopsy
to take a look and see what was going on.
If they found anything they would schedule a hysterectomy, if not then
she suggested fitting me with a Mirena coil.
This does several things; provides contraception, controls and often
stops periods altogether and generally sorts out the feminine problems that I
was suffering with.

Prevention

Again, I
feel the need to mention that I have for most of my adult life taken some form
of chemical contraception. For the past
four years I have had an implant. I have
tried the ‘natural’ method, where you work out your monthly cycle using a chart
and taking your temperature. I followed
this course of action when we were trying to conceive and it worked very
well. However, at my age (currently 48)
I don’t want any more children (ye gods, no!) so my contraceptive method needs
to be as infallible as possible. And I
don’t want to be messing about with charts and temperature taking every day,
sorry but I need my life to be as efficient and hassle free as possible!

And the op

On Monday
last week I had a phone call with a cancellation appointment for Saturday for
my op. Eeep!

We arrived
at the hospital around 6.30am (for a 7am booking in). We were seen by lots of different nurses,
doctors and staff throughout the day. It
was a ‘round the globe’ experience with staff from England, Scotland, the Phillipines,
India, Columbia and Spain. Each and
every one of them were lovely, friendly, reassuring, caring and
professional. We did suffer a very long
wait (6 hours) between having the pre-op assessment and going to theatre as the
operation before mine had complications.
Unfortunately, we were left in the waiting room (sitting in my theatre gown wearing surgical socks) with no communication to
let us know, which could have been avoided but was only a small problem.

The
operation went well, no nasties were found (although I need to wait for the
biopsy result for confirmation) and a Mirena coil was fitted.

Since
posting on facebook about the Mirena solution I have been inundated with lovely
people letting me know that they have ‘had the Mirena for years’ and that it
was ‘life changing’. I thank you all
from the bottom of my heart for your messages.

It is your womb, be in control

The reason
for this blog is to say to all you women that are suffering, thinking that it
is just something you must put up with, that it is just because of your age,
that it is periods and we have to live with it – WE DON’T!!

There is
help out there, there are options and solutions, don’t think, as I did, that it
is just something that happens and there is nothing can be done – seek
professional advice and help, don’t suffer in silence!

Although I
am still physically tired today, I am feeling so much better in myself. The Mirena hasn’t had chance to kick in yet
and it may take a couple of months to do so.
But I feel positive and empowered that action has been taken.

11 comments:

Thank you for sharing your journey, and being so frank and honest with us. I'm a fellow hormonal sufferer, and am now in a chemically induced menopause, no fun, but better than what I was going through. I think because we're women we're expected to suffer in silence as "women have been having periods since time began" as one doctor reminded me! I then showed him photographic evidence of what mine was like and he promptly referred me to the hospital. High five you to, and here's to a quick and speedy recovery for you xx

Fabulous post, Rachel, and very brave to share it. Thank you. I've often had to just 'put up' with health issues because I'm usually told it's due to having Fibro. I literally sat on this issue for three years until I sought help.x

Thank you - I think I also put it down to having Ulcerative Colitis and Polyarthralgia too at one stage, thinking it must be worse because of those other health issues - but it was nothing to do with them!

I have been suffering as well for a few years, Had a dnc to help things out, that lasted only a few months and after almost 18 months they are so bad I don't leave the house. I decided after talking with the OB to try the pill as I couldn't take it any longer. I have been on the pill for 5 weeks. Started when I was still bleeding, finally it stopped I had about 2 weeks and then poof its back, was told to double up to help it slow down as it was getting worse not better. Been 3 weeks with no end in sight. I did go in for a biopsy and I to am waiting on results.

Your post hits way to close to home. I have never heard of a Mirena coil. I will have to talk to my dr about it as living life like this is no fun. Thank you so much for your blunt and honest post... It's perfect timing for me ;)

I wish I had known about this Mirena coil when I was 38. My Ob/Gyn told me the only solution was a hysterectomy or laser ablation. I chose the laser ablation. The scarring was so bad, it literally sealed the vagina shut. So much for a healthy sex life. It did, however, permanently solve all my other related problems.

Hi Rachel, I was pretty much in the same boat as you a couple of years ago. I couldn't leave the house because I'd get to the top of the street and have to come home and change all my clothes. My periods made me anemic in the end. I was referred to a consultant and after weighing up other options, arranged for me to have a Mirena Coil fitted asap. The day I had it done was hilarious (I'll share the story with you one day) but like many other ladies have said, it was life changing. I've had mine in now for over a year and my periods have completely stopped - yay !! I wear a menopausal magnet which (for me) totally eliminates hot flushes both night and day, so from being a complete wreck, I'm sailing through the menopause and enjoying life :) I hope that yours works as well for you as mine has for me.